University of Oregon’s Aaron Wise wins in sudden death playoff against North Florida’s MJ Maguire at -10
in the 2014 Ka’anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational

Team Oregon wins with -33 with all five players under par for 54 holes

(LAHAINA, HI) – University of Oregon freshman Aaron Wise shoots 65 today (-6) for a 3-day total 203 (-10) and clenches the 2014 Ka’anapali Classic Collegiate Invitational Title. Wise survived a sudden death playoff with North Florida’s MJ Maguire, where Wise birdied the hole for the win. Oregon took home the Team Title with a 54-hole score of 819 (-33), 24 strokes ahead of North Florida (UNF) at 843 (-9).

Aaron Wise commented about the day, “Honestly, the first couple of rounds this week I was struggling a little bit.” He continued, “I wasn’t hitting my irons and wedges close and so today we got here a bit early and I actually skipped on breakfast to hit the range and work on my shots a bit. I was able to work things out and I took that to the course today.” Wise began the day with six birdies on the front nine, “I started off pretty well and when I bogeyed the par-4 seventh hole, it kind of got me fired up and I was able to birdie the next three holes. It was tougher on the back-nine with the winds blowing, but I just tried to keep it in play and give myself a shot at the green.”

Oregon Coach Casey Martin added, “Aaron came out on fire and was just special today - he’s got that extra gear and really displayed it today. He is the first freshman I’ve ever had to win a tournament like this.”

MJ Maguire of North Florida also had quite a round today with a 67 (-4), including an eagle on the #7 hole and a chip in for birdie on 18 to make it into the playoff with Wise with a 3-day score of 203 (-10).

Wise and Maguire headed to the 18th par 4 tee for the sudden death playoff. Wise comments, “I hit it about 300 yards off the tee and had 130 yards to the pin downwind so I hit a gap wedge.” He adds, “I knew left of the pin it is a downhill putt so I wanted to be right of the flag, but then there’s water on the right so I had to be careful there too. I had a 20-foot right to left uphill putt and sank it for birdie.” Maguire had a great drive and approach shot as well and just missed his 15-foot birdie putt.

Oregon’s Brandon McIver 205 (-8) and Jonathan Woo 206 (-7) finished 3rd and 4th after sharing the first and second day leads.

Team Champion Coach Casey Martin of Oregon said they met as a team last night and, “We talked all week about not worrying about results, but just going out and managing your own game and the results take care of themselves when they get out there and they get in their own zone.” He continued, “We had a few guys this week play really great at Ka’anapali and do some amazing things.” About this season, Martin stated, “To see what we’ve done this season has exceeded my expectations – we really have a lot of fun and they really play well on the golf course so it’s really been a great season for sure.” Prior to this weekend’s tournament, Oregon was ranked 2nd in the NCAA standings.

The UNF Team shot -10 today (same as Oregon) and finished second as a team at 843 (-9). “It was a great finish to the fall season by the team today,” said Head Coach Scott Schroeder. “MJ played really well and a few guys at the back end of the lineup stepped up and also played well down the stretch. It makes for a nice way to head into the winter break.” Schroeder added, “The team had a wonderful experience with this trip to Ka’anapali and hopefully learned a few things about playing in different elements.”

University of Hawaii sophomore and Kauai born, Justin (Pono) Tokioka was the top UH player and T5 overall for the weekend with Georgia’s Lee McCoy. Tokioka said, “This morning I felt pretty confident and had a good driving range session – I just told myself to go out and play your game like the last two days.” He continued, “It is great to be back at Ka’anapali, I always love this course and I have a lot of good memories here from junior golf.” When asked about added pressure being on home turf, Pono said, “It is nice to play on home territory because I know the course well and it gives me a bit of an advantage, especially with putting and the grains – I am used to the golf courses with these grains.” Host school, UH shot 888 (+36) as a team and finished in 11th place.

UH Coach Ronn Miyashiro added, “I want to thank Ed Kageyama, Sutee Nitakorn and the rest of the Ka’anapali staff for putting together a first class college event. The response from everyone has been nothing but positive. As long as the interest is there from the mainland schools, I really hope we can keep doing this year after year."

Ka’anapali Golf Courses PGA General Manager, Ed Kageyama states, “We loved being able to host this event at the Ka’anapali resort.” He added, “The strong field provided some amazing competition this weekend and allowed for our local junior golfers to see college golf in action, inspiring them to develop their games for the next level.”

Oregon Coach Martin commented on the event, “Ka’anapali and Hawaii did a great job hosting the event, the course really showed its teeth the last two days with the wind - it’s a great golf course and we were honored to play in this event and we are excited to come back next year.”

Team results:

** Playoff won by Aaron Wise for first place.

For full list of individual results visit www.golfstat.com and click on the Ka’anapali Classic link.

About Ka’anapali Golf Courses

Opened in 1962 and designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr., the par-71, 6,700-yard Royal Course’s wide fairways and undulating greens make it both distinctive and demanding. It hosted the Champions Tour Ka’anapali Classic for 14 years, Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf, the Canada Cup and LPGA Kemper Open, welcoming Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper, Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Jan Stephenson, Betsy King and other legends.

Ka’anapali Golf Courses has invested over $13 million in renovations and infrastructure. Golf course architect Robin Nelson was brought in to oversee the rework of the Kai Course and enhancements to the championship Royal Course. Ka’anapali recently celebrated 50 years of championship golf (1962-2012) and was host of the Champions Tour Skin Game January 2008-2011.